Doesn’t it seem like we celebrate Halloween and then all of a sudden it’s the New Year?! Where does the time go? Trying to stay ahead of the game this year and get most of the holiday shopping, at least for relatives, completed well beforehand…at least that’s the hope.
As we near the Christmas/Hanukkah holiday, I often reminisce about what my Christmas tradition was prior to getting married. I am Jewish, but grew up celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas, Passover and Easter. Mind you, Christmas and Easter were solely celebrated for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. My mother loves Christmas and all the cooking and decorating that goes along with that. My more religious Jewish friends never understood why we celebrated Christmas.
I love decorating the Christmas tree, aligning the ornaments in the correct positions to achieve maximum glow from the colored lights. There is an art to it. Reaching into the tree near the trunk to place ornaments providing depth and greater reflections of light. It’s fun, and I’m excited to carry on this particular tradition with The Littlest E who is now 6 and can be trusted to not topple over the tree.
Confession: we have a four-foot artificial tree that we decorate because of allergies. This tree works perfectly for our home and we don’t have to worry about needles shedding on the floor. It’s win-win. It’s even better when Christmas and Hanukkah fall around the same time because we have the lights from the menorah joining with the lights from the tree illuminating the hearth area of our home.
One of the traditions I miss and continue to have fond memories of is our Jewish tradition of Chinese food and a movie on Christmas Eve. Growing up, that’s what we did more times than not. I honestly don’t remember the movies we saw, but I remember the fun we’d have as a family of going to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Jennie Low, in Mill Valley and then heading to whatever movie seemed apropos for the occasion. We’d get home late and we’d be sleepy, time for bed.
Before bed, however, we’d leave milk and chocolate chip cookies or Pepperidge Farm cookies out for Santa (my Dad was a distributor and we had cookies galore at our house). We’d leave carrots for the reindeer to make sure they had enough to eat on their night’s long journey delivering presents to the families all over the world. It was a fun tradition.
Tom and I have been married for over 12 years and The Littlest E has been home with us for over 5 of those years. While we were a single couple, we did some traveling on Christmas to family. In 2008, Tom and I spent a magical Christmas in New Mexico. (There’s a place you want to go for the holidays.) There’s snow on the ground and luminaria lining the buildings that get lit at night creating a beautiful, otherwordly site.
We tried to do the Christmas Eve Procession of the Virgin at Taos Pueblo, but were a tad late. We saw the many bonfires and walked around with the hundreds of other visitors. It was cold and crisp with rushes of heat from the flames traveling skyward, and it smelled of winter.
Since we’ve become a family, our tradition is to attend a Christmas Eve children’s service at Tom’s church where the kids reenact the birth of the baby Jesus. There’s music, and a feeling of community as we all come together in celebration.
Though it’s not my religion, I’m most welcome there as the church embraces all who attend. Then we head home for a light dinner and make the preparations for the arrival of Santa and the reindeer.
When The Littlest E gets older, he and Tom may start heading to midnight mass. I’m still on the fence as to whether I’d want to go or not. Do I really want to get to bed that late on Christmas Eve or would it be fun sneak out and see a little movie, reliving my holiday tradition?
As I write, I’m still on the fence.
Wishing everyone, whatever holiday you celebrate, happiness and peace during the holiday season and New Year.